


Dial M for Mom, I'm Getting Married

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-11-19
Updated: 2002-11-19
Packaged: 2019-05-30 22:40:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15106292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Josh. Donna. A phone call from Mom.





	Dial M for Mom, I'm Getting Married

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Dial M for Mom, I'm Getting Married**

**by:** spitzthecat  


**Category/Pairing:** Josh/Donna  
**Written:** April 20, 2002  
**Rating:** ADULT for language  
**Disclaimer:** Not mine, never gonna be mine. Anything you recognize from pop culture isn't mine either. If it was, would I still be this deep in debt? Really, if you want my crappy ass job, truck payment and two emotionally disturbed cats you're welcome to them.  
**Summary:** 11th in the Joshua Monologues Series. Josh. Donna. A phone call from Mom. This was written for Jaye, who wanted to know how Josh's mom was doing with this. 

* * *

I know enough to know if I want to talk to my son, I need to call him at about 5 a.m. If I'm lucky, I'll wake him up and have something resembling his full attention until he realizes what time it is. 

He e-mailed me around New Years' to tell me he was seeing someone, but he wouldn't tell me who. When I asked, he told me he wanted to make sure he wouldn't blow it before he got my hopes up. Yes, every time I talk to Joshua, I bring up my lack of grandchildren. I'm a Jewish mother and there are rules about guilt: if he's not feeling any, I'm not doing my job right.

Typically, when I want to know what Joshua will not tell me about his life, I simply call Donna. Or if she's worried about him, she will call me. Imagine my surprise when I called her and she wouldn't tell me either. That, in and of itself, spoke volumes to me.

Then Leo McGarry called around Valentine's Day to tell me Joshua had broken his leg under, and I quote here, "unusual circumstances." When I pressed him for the specifics, he told me he wasn't sure of the exact details, but Josh and Donna were evidently having sex on a coffee table which collapsed. At that point I knew more about my son's sex life than I needed to. My suspicions about his girlfriend's identity, however, were confirmed.

Joshua continued to hint around that he and his lady were very happy, while still refusing to tell me who she was. During my next conversation with Leo, I flat out asked him why Joshua wouldn't reveal this information to me. Leo tried to make me feel better by saying that the only people who knew were himself, CJ, the President and the First Lady.

Then the Newsweek article came out. If there's anything worse than being the only one of my friends without grandchildren, it might be the looks of pity I get now that they think Joshua is gay. It's not the gay part causing the pity. It's the belief they now have that I will never get any grandchildren.

I decided to give it a week or so for things to calm down. Also to see how Joshua and the administration proceeded. I am impressed by his complete refusal to discuss it, opening himself up to criticism from all sides, but probably doing the most good in the long run.

So, on what promises to be a beautiful Saturday morning, I get up at 5:30 and have coffee. Steeling myself to endure what I'm sure will be my son's less pleasant side. The phone rings only three or four times before a very sleepy female voice answers it.

"Hello?"

"Good morning, Donna. Put my idiot son on the phone, please."

I hear her try to rouse Joshua several times before I hear him scream "Ouch." She probably had to pinch him. It is frequently the only way to wake him up.

Donna comes back on the phone, "Here he is, Elisa. It's your mother, Josh."

"What's wrong, Mamme?"

He sounds panicked.

"Joshua, do you have something you want to tell me?"

A smile spreads across my face when I hear him groan and flop back onto the bed. I always call him Joshua when I'm annoyed with him.

"Is this about the Newsweek thing?"

"Yes and no and a little warning would have been nice."

"I'm not gay and I swear on the Torah, you will get your grandchildren eventually."

The sounds of Donna giggling in the background make me chuckle.

"Joshua, is there a particular reason you decided to not tell me that you and Donna are seeing each other?"

"It was more fun to make Leo tell you?"

"Wrong answer, Joshua."

In my mind's eye, he is looking at his fingernails and biting his lip, trying to decide what to say to me.

"I didn't want the pressure from everyone to not screw this up. I didn't want lectures from Sam and glares from Toby and phone calls from Time Magazine about why I'm dating my assistant. I wanted to do it right, on my own, without everyone throwing their two cents in. I didn't want you freaking out because Donna's not Jewish. I needed to prove to myself that I can be the man Dad was. I needed to prove to Donna that I am the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with. Does that make sense?"

"That is the right answer, son. So, how are things?"

It's a minute before he answers me.

"I proposed last night."

Well, that's not what I expected him to say.

"Give the phone to Donna, son."

"Elisa?"

"Please, tell me my Joshua was not a complete yutz last night."

"HEY!"

"Is he listening?"

"Of course he is," Donna snorts. There is a note of happiness in her voice I have never heard before. If Joshua is causing that then he is doing something right for once. "He did good last night, Elisa. He got down on one knee and everything."

"Did he ask or did he tell you it was what he wanted?"

"I asked!" I can hear him protesting in the background. If I didn't know he was forty years old, I'd swear he was a spoiled twelve-year-old from his behavior.

Donna confirms his statement. "He asked. In the Rose Garden."

"My son has been possessed by aliens," I deadpan.

Donna laughs. "Funny, that's what I keep thinking."

"Did he have the ring already?"

"Elisa, it's beautiful and it's perfect. He did good," she repeats.

"You really want to marry the kvetch?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm stuck with him. Here, he wants to talk to you."

Joshua is very indignant when he gets back on the phone. "I cannot believe you have so little faith in me."

"I am not getting any younger, Joshua. I want grandchildren."

"After the election, Mamme. I promise. I told Leo we would wait on the wedding and the kids until after reelection."

"So, I'm looking at what? A year until you even get married? Then another year for the first grandchild? I want more than one before I die, Joshua."

He's squirming, I can hear it. I can still bring the guilt.

"Donna wants a spring wedding. In Wisconsin," he tells me.

That tells me she wants to get married in her hometown church. I'm not even sure what religion Donna belongs to. I mean, I know she's Protestant, but I can't keep those sects straight.

"You aren't going to involve a rabbi, are you?"

He pauses before answering me with a quiet "no."

"You've talked about these things with Donna haven't you? Tell me you have, Joshua."

"Yes, Mamme. We've talked about it. We have an agreement."

When he doesn't say any more, I wonder what he has agreed to, but I drop it. It is his wedding and his life, I am just happy he finally came to his senses about Donna.

"It's about time you do right by that girl, Joshua."

"We're ready to be us, Mamme. We weren't before, but we are now. This is sacred." It sounds like he is pleading with me to understand and I do. They both needed to grow towards each other, to convince themselves that they couldn't live without one another. Noah and I needed the same thing, we were just much younger when we met. Our marriage covenant still hangs on my wall, even though Noah's been gone for four years. 

"I want you to do something for your father."

That has the instant effect of sobering him. Of all his wounds, the loss of his father seems to be the rawest still.

"Anything, Mamme."

"Write a marriage covenant. Have Toby help you. Make it your wedding gift to Donna. Never forget, Josh."

"I'll never forget. I made a promise to Grandfather before he died."

That surprises me. Noah's father, Elijah, died when Josh was fifteen. He was living with us at the time; Josh found him when he came home from the library one afternoon. 

"Grandchildren, Joshua. Multiple grandchildren."

His unrestrained laughter is a welcome sound. It's been over thirty years since I have heard my Joshua laugh with such joy.

"I've got to go, Mamme. We're going to breakfast with Donna's parents before they fly home this morning."

"Do good, son."

I hang up the phone and sip my coffee, pondering many, many things.

Next: "A Letter from Home"

"Hey, Mom. Is Daddy home?"

"Donnatella. Your father is in quite a snit," she informs me.


End file.
